ORLANDO, Fla. – AdventHealth officials met on Thursday morning to discuss various topics, including the availability of ICU beds at their hospitals.
President and CEO Daryl Tol explained they are seeing an increase in hospitalizations due to the uptick of cases but said the company has enough capacity and supplies to care for all patients.
"Almost 20% of our ICU Beds are still available for additional patients and about 16% of total beds. To put that that in context, that's normal," Tol said.
Dr. Scott Brady with AdventHealth said Centra Care centers are testing about 20,000 people a week and it could double up within the next week or two.
"There is an increase in testing, but the increase in testing is not the reason we have more cases. 40% to 50% of cases are asymptomatic. A lot of folks are wanting to get tested now even if they've been exposed," Brady said.
Health officials said they are definitely seeing younger people, specifically in their 30's with COVID-19 now than in the spring.
"It's growing because we get out there, we are not as careful as we should be, we don't wear a mask, we gather in crowds," Tol explained.
Brady also went ahead and said AdventHealth hospitals are using different methods to help COVID-19 patients including remdesivir and plasma.
“The remdesivir, is a medication that helps, there’s not an abundance of that we are working hard with our supply chain and our government authorities to get as much remdesivir as we can,” Brady said.